California Trip report 2004

Saturday, May 15

We are regular customers of Delta (as you might guess coming from ATL), however this trip we took American Airlines. The price was just too good to pass up. We were not disappointed as even with the connecting flight (through Dallas) the ride was comfortable and quiet. There seems to be more leg room on AA flights.

We arrived at the San Jose airport and tried to find our luggage. I quickly learned to hate this airport. There were no signs telling us where our baggage was anywhere. I just looked around for people I recognized from the plane and went over and stood with them. The baggage was very slow in coming. We finally got our bags and headed out. Again, no signs as to where the car rental shuttles were. We asked directions at the information desk and where waved toward a door. We exited and again were lost. Still no signs anywhere. We just kept walking until we finally saw some people standing under a bus stop cover. We guessed it was the right place. We stood at the stop for over 30 minutes waiting for a car rental shuttle. I was not a happy camper. The bus finally came. It was a single bus for all the off site rental agencies (all agencies are off site). That a unified bus would take so long to arrive is ridiculous. We got into Dollar and quickly got our car, a new Taurus. We checked it over, found a few dings and took off.

It was easy getting on the highway and heading out, though the roads do seem to be in need of repair. We began looking for a specific exit to find a Walmart in order to stock up on trip supplies. We took the exit we were supposed to (Walmart web site) but couldn't find any signs anywhere directing us where any stores would be. They apparently have some strong sign ordinance rules around here. That's fine for locals, but makes it impossible to find something if you have no idea where it might be. I drove around a bit and gave up, pulling into a Walgreens. I figured the higher prices were worth the wasted time and effort in finding the Walmart. We picked up our supplies (water, box fan, candy, trail mix, etc.). As we got back on the highway, we saw the Walmart on the other side of the Interstate. This was not a good beginning to a long day.

We finally made it to Rt 120. The scenery got more interesting as we passed grove after grove of fruit trees and stands. We then turned onto Rt 49, seeing it as the shortest way to Mariposa on the map. It wasn't. Be aware that RT 49 is a curvy, dangerous road that will do little to improve a bad mood.. It again slowed us down. If you head to Mariposa from San Jose, go via I-5 and Merced. Stay away from this road.

I had planned on getting into Mariposa by around 5. We pulled in after 8:30. The small town looked almost deserted. We drove through town looking for our motel, the Comfort Inn. The CI is located on a hill side on the southern side of town. We checked in, dumped our stuff in the room and started looking for food. There were several places but the one that seemed the most appealing to us was the Happy Burger Drive Inn. It was kind of a funky old Dairy Queen kind of place with lots of locals. They had an outside area with lots of picnic tables. We ordered burgers, fries and ice cream. It was a very good meal. We headed back to the hotel. It was late, but I was still not in a happy mood so I decided to take a dip in the pool and hot tub. It was a bit too cold for Mary but she came up and watched for a while. I'm so glad I went. The meal and the soak really helped my disposition.

Luckily, this was the only bad day of our trip.

Sunday, May 16

We woke up early, polished off everything we could eat at the breakfast bar and copped a couple of apples for lunch. We headed out to Yosemite, following the Merced River. As we got closer to the park, we passed through El Portal. There really wasn't much there other than a couple of hotels. I was glad we stayed in Mariposa. The road was very windy and I was also very glad we were staying in the park and would not be traveling this road on a regular basis. It's pretty but slow going because of the curves. We entered the park and stopped a few miles in to view our first waterfall, Bridalveil. It was beautiful. The huge granite walls of the canyon on ether side were equally impressive. We stopped at several points along the way to take it all in. All the waterfalls seemed to be at their peak. Great!

We went round the loop looking for the Yosemite Lodge. I had made the reservation over 1 year ago for 5 nights. That may seem overly early to most people , but there were no rooms available at the Lodge during the time of our stay just 3 weeks after I made the reservation. As I thought and later confirmed, Mary would not have been happy staying at any of the other more rustic facilities. We finally found the reception area and tried to check in (it was only 10:30 AM). Our room had been assigned but was not yet ready. They suggested coming back after 1:00 PM. We were assigned the Juniper Building, Room # 3323. We checked it out, were happy and took off. We drove around the park and headed out to visit Curry Village. We were basically on a food search now. We checked out the restaurant and the facilities. Curry Village is a huge sprawling place with lots of tents and some rustic cabins. We strolled around and checked out a few empty sites. My wife was very happy that we were over at the Lodge. The main restaurant there had a nightly buffet and there were two "outside" restaurants in the same building, a pizza place and a taco stand. We wandered around a bit more and returned to the Lodge right at 1:00. Our room was still not ready. We decided not to wait around and took off for Glacier Point. On our way we stopped at "Tunnel View". The famous overlook of the valley. It was pretty, but a bit hazy. We later found out they were doing several controlled burns in the park. That was the reason for the haze. As we continued on to Glacier Point we ran into some traffic. There were a large number of antique cars all over the place. They were scattered throughout the park while we were there. They added a nice touch to the trip. As we drove down the side road to GP, we noticed an increasing amount of snow along the road. The snow seemed to be quite thick in the higher elevations. Just before GP is Washburn Point. We stopped there for a great view of two waterfalls (Nevada and Vermel). The view of half dome from this point was good, but not nearly as good as a GP. We continued on to GP. The parking lot is kind of small, given the number of visitors, but we were lucky enough to find a spot and grabbed it. The views from GP are absolutely breathtaking. From various overlooks you can view all three sections of Yosemite Falls, several angles of Half Dome, the entire valley and several waterfalls. It was magnificent The edge is a bit of a drop so I had to be careful (vertigo). We spent almost two hours just taking in the views and trying to pick places off the map. This point offers the best view of Half Dome, the valley and the Falls.

We returned to the Lodge and got our room. We were very pleased. It was a bit old and rustic but large and very clean. We had a great view of Yosemite Falls from our front door and a view of the canyon wall (Sentinel Point) from our porch. The room is a bit pricey for what you get ($150 per night) but you pay for being in the park. It is worth it.

By now we were both starving. The meal options in the park are kind of limited. We checked out the cafeteria across from our lodge but weren't that impressed. We were really hungry, so we took off for the Curry Village Buffet. The place was kind of crowded with kids. It seems that the Yosemite Institute sponsors school kids (ages 12-16) to stay in Yosemite in learning groups. They are a bit loud but pretty well behaved. The buffet featured several stations of different food (Mexican. Asian, Pasta and salad). The food was filling but school cafeteria quality. We were so hungry it didn't matter. We chowed and went back to our room content. We decided to go

for a walk along the river behind the lodge. The trail led past some meadows that had several deer in them. It was very peaceful as we watched the sunlight glisten off Half Dome.

Monday  5/17

We got up early and headed up for Tioga Pass. We were lucky that it was open this early in the year. Usually the snow pack is too deep to open the road this early in the year, however, the light winter snow fall allowed them to open it up pretty early this year.

Before leaving we had breakfast at the cafeteria in the lodge area. They have a cafeteria style premade breakfast section for eggs, bacon and hash browns and a grill section for pancakes and french toast. It was OK. The coffee is good and they do have a microwave oven available to reheat your food (which you will need).

We got out to Tioga Road and stopped at Tuolumne Grove for our first hike of the day. The hike is basically a mile down an old closed road (you used to be able to drive down it) and a mile back (up hill). It's not too difficult but it was not a hike filled with natural beauty. Anyway, at the Grove there are several Sequoia Trees. They were enormous (though not nearly as large as the ones at Sequoia NP). There was a short poorly marked trial at the end that took us around the base of several of the larger trees. There were also several deer along the trail. This is not a hike I would put high on my must do activities.

After this trail we decided to drive straight through the road and do our hikes on the way back. We drove through to Toulumne Meadows only taking in the beauty from the car. There was very little open and the road was pretty much deserted. There was also a lot of snow along the road. The Meadows area was also empty. The meadow itself was snow free, though very muddy. Any area that was not in direct sun light still had snow covering it. We drove around the campground and saw them starting to put up the tents. Nothing was open. We attempted two hikes but had to abandon both as the trails were covered with snow.

We drove back slowly taking in the scenery. We were particularly taken with Tenaya Lake. We stopped and had lunch at the pullover there. The scenery was beautiful. We stopped at the Olmstead Point valley overlook and while impressive, we thought the views on Big Oak Flat Road, as we went back to the park, were prettier. We really liked the Tamarack Falls area off Big Oaks Flat. We reentered the Valley park and went to Bridal Vail falls. We sat near the end of the trail and let the mist soak us to the bone. It was a good ending to a long day. As we left the falls and crossed over the creek, we were amazed at how small the creek was. That such a large, beautiful water fall could come from such a small amount of water is amazing.

We returned to our room, changed and headed out to dinner at the cafeteria. Again, it was OK, nothing great (or even good). After dinner we took a ride over to the Ahwahnee hotel. It was a nice place but it sure didn't seem to be worth the cost (over $330 per night). Ther place was also over run with small children. Very loud. El Tovar at the Grand Canyon was more impressive to us. Just a matter of taste. We headed back to our lodge and stopped at Lower Yosemite Falls. We sat near the bottom and again let the mist cover us (though not as bad as at Bridal Vail). The falls were beautiful but in the shadows. We decided to return one morning to see them in the sunshine.

Tuesday   5/18

After a lengthy discussion we decided to cut back our stay in Yosemite from 5 to 4 nights. Cost was one issue but more important because of the small crowds we had been to see a lot more than we thought we would. We were also concerned with getting stuck in more traffic and getting into Sequoia real late. So we decided to leave a day early and stay in Fresno for a night. A decision we were very happy about.

On the way out we asked at the desk about leaving a day early. They said if they sold the room, then there was no problem. If they couldn't we would have to pay. I told her that we would leave if the sold the room and stay if they didn't. She told me to check in later to see if they had sold it.

We then headed out to Vernel Falls. It is at the far end of the valley, past Curry Village. The hike isn't too difficult, it's only a mile or so out, however the entire mile is uphill. In some places it does get a bit steep. There were a lot of out of shape people sitting along the edge of the trail. We got up to the bridge that looks out at the Falls. It was pretty but not very close to the falls. We started to continue up the trail to Nevada Falls when we noticed that the people coming down the trail were all soaking wet. This part of the trail is called the Mist Trail. Hikers get soaked to the bone on this part of the trail. Since this was the beginning of a day of hiking we didn't see the need of getting our hiking shoes soaking wet and getting a bunch of blisters. We went back to the bridge, looked over at the falls and headed down.

We got back to the road and took the shuttle to the next stop for a hike to Mirror Lake. The map showed a loop trail that went on one side of the river and came back on the other side (paved). They were connected with a bridge. We chose the trail and headed out. The trail is shared with the horses and has lots of horse stuff on it. We had a real time trying to avoid it. I kept on telling Mary not to worry, we would come back on the other paved side. We got to Mirror Lake and guess what? No bridge. The only way to get over is to wade across the river. That was not happening. We enjoyed the scenery but it was a bit tainted by the thought of going through the horse poop again. We made it back and took off for Lower Yosemite Falls to see it in full daylight. It was fantastic. The sun was directly overhead and the falls just sparkled. We then took off to the central valley field for a great view of El Capitan. We just sat in the field for almost an hour, looking at the canyon walls on either side and watching some crazy people climbing up them. It was getting into the late afternoon and we decided to have a quick look at what other accommodations had been available in the park. We first checked out the housekeeping cottages (these are not cottages). These "cottages" are nothing more than an H shaped concrete walls covered with tent canvas to make "two cottages" on either side. They are on a beautiful site on the river bend, but far too rustic for Mary (and probably me too). All the signs saying beware of bears and "Place all food in bear proof lockers" only emphasized that these cottages couldn't keep a mad kitty cat out, let alone a bear. So much for that place. We then headed on to Curry Village. Curry had a huge number of tents on platforms and several actual cottages. The tents had two beds and a dresser. Interesting. The cottages were very small one room shacks. None of the facilities had bathrooms (at least the ones we looked at). This area was also filled with hundreds of teenage school kids attending classes at the Yosemite Institute. It was VERY noisy. Mary thanked me for choosing the Lodge to stay in. We then headed over to the Pizza place for dinner. It was great pizza. One of the best meals we had on the trip. We took our time with this meal and really enjoyed it. The large number of kids and families around us provided ample entertainment. We finished our meal, wandered around the gift shop and headed back to our Lodge. I checked at the front desk and they had sold our room (no problem). So we would be checking out a day early. We parked the car and walked over to Lower Yosemite Falls again. We spent another night watching the falls. Very nice.

Wednesday, May 19

This was our last full day in the park and we decided to spend it at Glacier Point, our favorite part of the park. We also decided to do two hikes on the way out to GP; Sentinel Dome And Taft Point. We headed out the southern road and again stopped at Tunnel View. Being early in the morning there was still a haze over the valley, but the view was much better than on our first stop. We continued along to the trail heads. The trail heads for SD and TP are the same. One goes left the other right. We pulled into the lot (which is frequently full) and tried to decide which hike to do first. Both hikes are a little more than 2 miles round trip each. We headed out for SD first. The trail is very easy all the way along the rim until you get to SD. The trail is open and there's not much to see as you go along. The reward is at the end. The trail ends at a hard top road that you used to be able to drive on, right up to the huge granite dome. Now you have to hike a mile to get to it. The dome is like a miniature Stone Mountain. A huge rounded dome of granite. You hike up the "easy" side of the dome. It's about a 1/4 mile up the side of the rock. The effort is worth it. Just take it slow with the altitude. The view is fantastic but you are on top of a rounded dome with a drop of several hundred feet or more on any one of the three sides you didn't walk up. If you have problem with heights (like me) be careful. We enjoyed the views for over half an hour and headed back to the trail head. We grabbed some trail mix, water and headed out to Taft Point.

The trail to TP is totally different than the SD trail. It passes though several areas of alpine forest, wetlands and ridges. We enjoyed this trail much more and saw several deer along the way. There were several areas that we had to cross on fallen trees to avoid the mud and water but it was fairly easy. We finally made it to the end or should I say Mary made it to the end. I didn't. The trail ends at the very edge of an outcropping overlooking Yosemite Valley below. TP is a promontory that sticks out into the canyon. You can (not me) go all the way out to the edge of the point and look straight down a 2,000 ft drop. I made it to within 6 feet of the point and could not go that final step to the edge. There is a small railing there to hold onto, but it didn't look all that sturdy to me. I decided I could see just fine from the side rather than the point itself. Mary got up there and I took her picture showing the drop. It was memorable. Even though I couldn't get quite to the end, this was one of my favorite hikes of the trip. The views are amazing, even from the side. We stayed for a while and returned to the car for lunch (apples and trail mix). We then headed back out to Glacier Point and spent over two hours just sitting in different places enjoying the amazing views and trying to take the "perfect picture". The views from GP alone are worth the trip out there. We then headed back to the valley, stopping again at tunnel view.

By the time we got back we were both starving and so we decided to hit the cheap buffet again. More for quantity than quality. The only reason I even mention the meal is because it came with a "dinner show" that reminded me of just how stupid males (both men and boys) are. As I stated before, Curry Village was filled with young teenagers on "educational" excursions in the park. We happened to sit at a table near a large group of them. At one table were a group of 7 teenage girls that were playing the boys at the next table as fools, getting them to bus their dishes, run up and get them drink refills, more food, etc.. The boys seemed to be losing interest until one 14 year old girl demonstrated how to eat a hot dog roll. She put on a five minute show that may not have made her mother proud but did have a dozen young boys absolutely mesmerized. They sat there staring at her with their jaws on the floor and their eyes glazed over like a dog having its' belly scratched. It was hilarious. Eventually the show ended (the bun got soggy I guess) and the kids cleared out. We finished up our meal and headed back to our room. We cleaned up a bit and went for a final walk along the river. It was quiet, peaceful and very beautiful.

Thursday, May 20

We left the lodge early and headed out, stopping at several points to take a last look at the valley. It really is awesome. We got on the high ground and after a lengthy drive made it to the southern part of the park. We pulled into the Wawona Hotel to look for the visitors center. Mary and I were both really taken by the old hotel. We wandered around the lobby area and looked at the pictures when the place was in its hay day (1890's). It was impressive. The place has gone down hill a bit since then but is still very charming. We found the visitors center and got information on Mariposa Grove. This is the large Sequoia grove in the southern part of the park. It contains some of the largest trees in the world. The "loop trail" is a couple of miles going up hill and then down. They also had a tram ride that would take you up to the top and show you around. You then had the choice of ridding down or walking. Since we had a lot more hiking to do in Sequoia we decided to go with the tram ride. We headed out to the Grove and bought our tickets. The times of the tram vary with demand. We had to wait for over 45 minutes for the tram to fill and take us up. The tram eventually took us up into the grove. Now these are trees! The size of these trees put the other ones in Toulumne to shame. The tram ride is as bumpy as a roller coaster and should not be taken by someone with a bad back, however, the discomfort is well worth it. It takes you right up through the upper and lower groves and stops frequently so the ranger can give information on each tree or group of trees.

The tour took over an hour, after which we headed back to Wawona. We sat out on the hotel veranda and ate our apples and trail mix for lunch. It was very nostalgic. We walked all over the place and really got a nice feeling for the place. Too bad it's so far from the Valley. This would be a great place to stay.

We then took off to find a hotel in Fresno. I thought we would go through Fresno and stay on the other side, on the road heading into Sequoia NP. I asked three different employees at Yosemite and they all said don't do it. They all said to stay on this side of Fresno and two of them recommended the Red Roof Inn. We ended up staying there and it was a clean, comfortable place with a nice pool and whirlpool to soak our aching feet in.

Friday, May 21

We left early for Sequoia and headed out of Fresno past a huge construction area. We tried to follow the road signs but a had a good bit of trouble. Again, there seems to be a lack of signs for anything in this State. We got lost twice but finally found the road and headed out. The Yosemite employees were right. We were much better off staying on the northern side of Fresno.

It was an overcast day as we approached the park. Sequoia kind of sneaks up on you. It's not like Yosemite where you build up to the entrance. We entered the park and quickly pulled over at the Stump Trail parking lot. Mary was already in love with Sequoia (without seeing a single tree). They had new, clean flush toilets all over the park. She was very happy.

We headed out on the trail that loops around an old logging area where sequoia trees were logged over 100 years ago. The huge stumps are still there as well as the sawdust piles from the mill that has long since disappeared. We got a close up view of the trees and sat on the Mark Twain Stump for a picture. This is the tree that was felled to supply the Smithsonian National Museum with a sample of a sequoia. The stump is huge. It was a bit sad however, reading that all these trees were taken down for no good reason. We discovered in the brochure that the sequoia trees shattered when they hit and ground, so their lumber is useless for building. Most of the wood from the trees that were felled were used to make pencils and landscaping stacks. A sad end to a proud 1,000 year old tree.

We headed up to the Grant Grove area to see if we could check in early. We were staying at the John Muir Lodge. The room was not ready. They said to come back at 1:00. We decided to not sit around but headed out to Grant Grove, home of the General Grant tree, the third largest tree in the world. It's over 283 feet high. We walked the surrounding trail and checked out the other trees. This is a very picturesque area with several groups of trees that make perfect pictures (the happy family group). There are also hollowed out trees that the trail goes right through. It is an impressive grove of trees.

It was after 1:00 so we went back to the Lodge area to see if our room was ready. Still no. We took off now for Panoramic Point. You drive most of the way up to the point along a narrow very curvy road. There is sizable parking lot at the end and a short steep trail takes you up to the point. The view was nonexistent. It was either too cloudy or too polluted. It was a wasted trip other than giving our butts a good workout. We then headed back to Grant Grove and took off down the Northern Loop trail. A fairly easy 3 mile loop around several groupings of sequoia trees. The hike was very peaceful. We basically had the forest to ourselves. We only saw one other group of people on 3 mile trail, though we did see many deer.

By now it was getting late and we were both very hungry and tired. We got to the lodge and thankfully our room was ready. It was on the second floor of the new lodge building. The lodge itself is a rustic log building with rooms along one wing and a huge sitting area with a fireplace at the other end. A nice place. The rooms were good sized and clean. We quickly threw our stuff in the room and went looking for food. There are not a lot of choices here. There is only one restaurant, with the other choice being a small grocery store to buy sandwiches and cookies. We went with the restaurant. The food was good, not great but good. We ate all our meals there over the next two days. After dinner we went back up to the lodge and sat by the fireplace playing cards. A nice way to end the day.

Saturday May 22

It was a beautiful day. Part of the reason we stayed in the Northern section of the park was to take in the Cedar Grove section of the park in Kings' Canyon. We headed out the northern road and the landscape got more barren and the temperature increased. It was getting noticeable warmer. We hit the Kings river and followed it into the canyon on a road that hugged the canyon side. It was a bit scary at times. This river was a lot faster and rougher than any we had seen at Yosemite. We stopped along the way at Grizzly Falls, a nice waterfall just off the road. Down the road a bit is a short trail to Roaring Falls. The view of Roaring Falls was a bit disappointing because the falls were in the shade. We decided to hit the place again later when the sun would be on the falls.

Our main hike for the area was Bubbs Creek hike. A 5+ mile loop trial that goes out on one side of the river and comes back on the other. According to the maps, there were bridges on each end (I no longer trusted maps, so I asked a ranger first). We parked the car at "road end" which is the trail head area for several great hikes and went off to find the bridge to the other side. We found a small cable bridge that crossed a narrow rocky part of the river below. The water was gushing between huge rocks and making a lot of noise. We followed the trail and took in the river on our left and the steep canyon walls on our right. The foliage along the trail changed significantly several times. At one point you'd be going through scrub pine, then nothing, then lush wetlands. It was interesting. In the wetland area, as we got to the half way point, there were several creeks and streams that we had to cross over. None were on the map (surprise) and none had bridges. Most we were able to cross by jumping from rock to rock, but there were two that were had trouble with. They needed to be crossed by walking on trees that had been felled across each. The water below the trees was fast and cold. I made sure the video camera was going in case I had a submission for "Funniest Home Videos", but we somehow made it across. We got to the end and crossed the river on a large suspension bridge that was quite impressive. We followed the trail back to the trail head and noticed several deer along the way. It was a very nice hike. We got back to the trial head and went out to Muir Rock for lunch. The huge flat rock sits along the side of the river and is the site where John Muir would give lectures to groups on conservation. It is a very short distance from the parking lot. We ate our apples and trial mix and enjoyed the peaceful setting as we watched several fly fishermen in the river attempt to stand up to the swift current..

We left the parking area and headed back to Roaring Falls to do the hike again and hopefully get a few good pictures. The falls were far more impressive in the sunlight, however, we couldn't really get any good pictures. There is really only one area to get picture from and though we waited 30 minutes for him to finish, this one guy was taking picture after picture of his 5 year old "angel". He was having her pose every way possible, including laying out like a playboy centerfold on the rocks in front of the falls. He's telling her to put her head back, arch her back, wet her lips, etc. He's going to have problems with her by the time she's 14 and won't have a clue as to why. Idiot. We finally gave up and left the guy and his future pregnant 14 year old and headed out to our last hike, Zumwalt Meadow Trial. This was supposed to be a level walk around a meadow on the far side of the river. The first part of the hike is anything but level. We crossed a suspension bridge and began to hike back to the meadow hugging the canyon side. The trial looked like "Rock City". It was nothing but rocks as the trial went through the remains of a rock slide. You had to go up and over several areas of rocks. It wasn't too difficult but I wouldn't want small children running around on that part of the trial. At the end we turned back to the river and followed it along back to the bridge. It was very beautiful.

We went over to the Cedar Grove Village to clean up and headed out of the Park. We hadn't gotten more that 5 miles down the road when we ran into a police roadblock. It seems someone had driven their car into the river and they were waiting for a tow truck to come and get them out. They said it would be at least an hour wait. We decided to head back to the Center and chill. Luckily they had some ice cream. We sat out on the veranda and chowed down. After an hour we headed out again and the road was clear. I was starting to run low on gas and knowing there were no gas station in the parks I decided to stop at a small private place (King Canyon Lodge) along the roadside. The gas pump was something from the 1920's. You pumped up the gas you wanted into a high tank that measured the number of gallons. You then drained the tank into your car. It was a bit of a hoot, even though the price was a bit high.

We made it back and headed out for dinner. Afterward we sat out on the balcony at the end of our hotel floor. The balcony overlooked the cabin area of the campground. It seemed that several groups of people were having a one large party in the cabin area. They were singing and laughing til late into the night. No problem for us, we had our 20" box fan.

Sunday, May 23,

We checked out of the John Muir Lodge and headed out for the lower part of the park. We drove past our hotel area (Wuksachi) and Lodgepole and stopped at the General Sherman Tree near Giant Forest. The tree has to be seen to be believed. It is massive. We did the little hike surrounding the Sherman Tree and then headed out on the Congress Trial. Though it was only a little more than 2 miles long and not difficult, we spent over two 1/2 hours on the trial looking at all the trees. This was the best trial for viewing the Sequoias. It had giant trees, trees that you could walk through, trees in impressive groups and some all by themselves. We easily could have spent another hour or two there. It was the highlight of the park. We then headed down the side road to the Meadows area to pick up the Bobcat Point trail. On the way we drove through the tunnel log. A felled tree that has a car tunnel hollowed out of the middle. Of course everyone was stopping and taking pictures. We got to the end and parked the car and found the trail head. We followed the trail through several forest lines. It was a gradual uphill hike but fairly easy and shaded most of the time. We got to the point and looked out over the valley. The view was similar to view on Moro Rock, but since we were the only ones there, it was a lot more private. We could look over and see the dozens of people on top of Moro Rock. We decided to leave that for later. We headed down from the ridge and passed through what used to be an old Indian encampment. There were several mortar holes in the rocks that the Indians used for for grinding nuts.

We got back to the trail head and headed out on the Crescent Meadow Trial. It is a nice easy trial with a beautiful view of two mountain meadows. When we started out a few hikers said there was a bear up ahead in the meadow. Sure enough he was still there, grazing in the meadow as 10-12 people stood along the trial watching him. It was our first bear of the trip, though not our last. We continued along to Tharp's log. A guy named Tharp would bring his cattle up to this meadow to feed during the summer (1861-1890) and he would live in a hollowed out Sequoia log. The "cabin" was small but cozy.

After we left the cabin we followed the trial to Chimney Tree. Just as we were about to come up on the tree we stopped and were looking at a fallen sequoia tree when I looked down the trial and saw a bear walking in the trail toward us. I told Mary to be quiet (a difficult task) and the bear just strolled along following the side trail to Chimney tree. He went by it and went up the hill. Mary, the girl who said she didn't even want to see a bear, tried to follow him to get a picture. She came to her senses and let the bear walk away. We continued down the trial and just a few 100 yards or so came upon a mother bear with two cubs. She had sensed we were coming and had treed the cubs. She sat at the base of the tree and made sure everything was OK. We watched for a while and she must have made some signal to the cubs as they scurried down the tree and joined her as she began to walk away. Watching the two little cubs ran after mom was a real hoot and a moment to be appreciated. After they left the area we continued on the trial. It looped around to the meadow and who did we find on the other side, mom and the cubs again. We spent another 15 minutes watching them and then headed back to the trial head.

It was getting late in the day, so we packed up and headed to Wuksachi Lodge. We were scheduled for a 3 night stay, but when we checked in they had a notice posted about road construction on the southern entrance. We decided to leave a day early and stay half way toward the coast. It was another wise decision. We were assigned to the Sequoia Building room 304. It was quite a distance from the parking lot, particularly with luggage. To make it worse, it was all up hill. If you are a senior citizen specifically ask not to stay in this building. The other buildings are much closer to the lot and the walk isn't nearly as bad. The room was very nice with a large sitting area and bathroom. Most important for Mary, they had a TV. The room was nice but the rate was a bit extravagant (over $180 per night). You are paying for the location, not the bed I kept telling myself.

We were getting hungry so we went down to the central lodge where the dining room was located. The food was a bit too exotic and expensive for our taste. The only problem was, it was the only place to eat at the lodge. We piled in the car and headed out to the Lodgepole area a few miles down the road. At Lodgepole there was sandwich shop (which closed at around 5:00) and a small deli serving burgers and the like at very reasonable prices. We had two cheeseburger plates which were filled with a mound of great tasting fries.

Bloated we walked around the Lodgepole area checking it out. There are no accommodations there, only camping sites. They do however have several public shower facilities for hikers. It was a nice place. We headed back to our room.

Monday, May 24

We headed over to the Lodge for breakfast early. There are no inexpensive options here so the dining room was it. They had a full buffet for about $13 and a continental for about $9, excluding coffee. The food was good, though the choices were limited. The dining room had a beautiful view and the service was excellent.

We headed out to Giant Forest early and stopped at the Big Trees Trial. We saw a bear just before we stopped but after parking the car we couldn't find it. We started out on the trial. It was fantastic. We had the entire meadow to ourselves (the trail goes around the meadow) for over 40 minutes. The bonus was the fact that there was another bear sitting in the middle of the meadow feeding. We could keep an eye on him during our entire walk. We slowly walked around the meadow and sat down on the far end to watch the bear. He was just eating but then he suddenly decided he needed to go somewhere. Unfortunately we were already at that someplace. He began walking toward us slowly and continued to get closer and closer. I told Mary not to move but to stay seated. The bear veered off a bit and hit the trial about 40 feet away from us. To my surprise he turned toward us and began walking down the trail. At that point I told Mary to get up and slowly walk away. As soon as we did the bear turned into the woods and ambled along. He may not have seen us. That was fun. We decided to head out for another trail.

We headed down the road a bit to the Hazelwood Nature Trail, however, there was a problem. A bear and her cub where in a tree at the beginning pf the trail. It was impossible to go around the tree as the trail went through a fallen log and the tree was just on the other side of the tunnel. We sat and waited awhile but the bears were not moving, they were napping. I was hesitant to proceed but figured the bear was high enough in the tree that it shouldn't notice us. I was right. We quietly walked by the tree and headed down the trail. It was a very peaceful hike. Given the bear at the front of the trail, we had the whole thing to ourselves again. When we finished our walk, the bears were still in their tree. We again quietly and quickly sped past them.

We stopped for a few minutes at the Giant Forest Museum. It really wasn't much, however the Rangers there were a wealth of information on what trials to use.

We went down the side road, back to the Crescent Meadow area and headed out on the High Sierra Trial to Eagle Point. It was an area view similar to Bobcat point but the trail was a bit easier. Again we had the place to ourselves. I would highly recommend this trail.

On the way back we decided to hook up with the Upper Meadows Trail and go back that way. As we came off the ridge and headed down toward Log Meadow, Mary suddenly called out my name in her best hyperventilated voice. She had spotted a good size black bear sitting in the hillside about 50 feet away staring at us. She calmed down enough to take a picture and then do a fast walk down the trail. We finished the hike with no more surprises and headed out to our last hike of the day, Moro rock .

We got to the rock and started up it. My vertigo was kicking in but I was determined to try and get all the way up. The first part has narrow steps but there was a hand rail along the side. After a few hundred the hand rail disappeared. The narrow trail that was cut into the side of the rock had only a few rocks on the side. With that my vertigo really kicked in. I tried to continue but had to turn around and go back. Mary went up to the top by herself. She said I hadn't missed much. The view wasn't much better than what we had seen at Bobcat Point and Eagle Point.

Tired and hungry we headed for the Lodgepole Deli for some more fries and burgers.

Tuesday, May 25

We had a quick breakfast at the Lodge and headed out, stopping at the Giant Forest Headquarters on the way. We gave a last look to the trees and left the park. The construction wasn't too bad but it did add at least an extra hour to the trip as we were stopped three times. I was glad we were leaving today. I would have hated to try to drive all the way to the coast in one day. Because we were leaving early we were able to take a leisurely pace stopping at several overlooks and trails. We headed out on the Kaweah Falls trail. The trail went along a paved road until it met a river (I don't know the name, maybe Kaweah?). It then followed along the river. It was an easy trail with several remarkable falls and river spots. We sat along the river bank for several minutes just taking it all in.

We continued our exit from the park and stopped at the Potawisha Bridge trail. We headed out on this trail. It was not well marked and followed a path through high grass that made Mary and I both nervous. We walked for almost an hour without coming to the bridge, which was supposed to only one mile from the start. At this point we turned back. This is not a trail I would recommend at all.

Wednesday, May 26, San Simeon

We took off fairly early because we had a long drive to the coast and a reservation for a tour of Hearst Castle that afternoon. The scenery isn't much between the hills and the coast, making it seem like a longer drive than it was. We got to San Simeon and checked into our room at the Best Western Cavalier. It is a beautiful, beachfront resort only a mile from the entrance to the castle. It is in a group with around 5-6 other hotels. It is definitely the nicest of the group. Great heated pools and hot tubs. We had some time before our reservations at the castle so we took off to visit Hearst State park. It is basically the old beachfront area for the castle with the construction pier. It's an ok place but not something I'd put on my to do list. We then headed a bit further down the coast to see the seal lions. There's a stretch of beach a few miles north of San Simeon that the sea lions have taken a liking to. Before we even saw them, we could smell them. Yuck. They stunk like rotting fish. We watched them roll around grunting for awhile before heading off to San Simeon. We arrived a bit early and got a tour an hour before our reservation. We still waited awhile, toured the museum and saw the movie. Both very interesting. The tour took a couple of hours and was great. It is well worth it. The place compares to some of the beautiful chateaus in Europe. The engineering needed to build the place where it is makes even more amazing.

After our tour we decided to have a nice dinner in Cambria. We checked out at least a dozen places and finally decided on an Italian place (I think it was Lombardi's). It was outstanding, a great meal. We walked around town a bit afterward but the town was a bit too touristy for us (reminded us of our home town).

We returned to our hotel and were amazed at how cool it had become. The temp had dropped a good bit and the wind had picked up. Not a good combo. Still, I was determined to make use of the heated pool (I now understood why they had a wind shield around it). I changed and jumped in. The water was great, however any part of my body that was not under water was freezing. I swam around for about 20 minutes and couldn't take it anymore. I jumped out and ran to the room. I dried off and went outside to the roaring fire on the bluff overlooking the shore. It was great. Mary and I sat around the fire looking over the beautiful ocean for several hours. It was a very pleasant evening.

Thursday, May 27,

Had a quick breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Good food and service. We headed out to Monterey on the coastal highway. We had heard how beautiful this stretch of road was and were really looking forward to the ride, however, mother nature had other ideas. The day was very overcast and dismal looking. We drove along the highway and it was pretty but not as great as I had hoped. I'm sure the weather was the major problem. We stopped along several areas for hikes and views, including of course Big Sur. We also stopped at the Julia Phieffer State Park. It has short walk out to the coast line where you can view a waterfall pouring into the ocean (a rare occurrence according to the tour book). The view point is very pretty. We continued along and stopped at Point Lobo, thanks to a recommendation from a fodorite. The park is a wildlife sanctuary with several trails that give you excellent views of the flora and fauna. We spent over two hours here taking it in. We could easily have spent two more.

While we were in the aquarium, of course, the weather cleared up. We walked along the Cannery Row checking out the boats and the bay. For supper we decided to have hot fudge sundaes at Ghirardelli's. They have an outside patio that overlooks the bay. It's a great place to sit and watch the people and the sea creatures. We ate our ice cream and relaxed, enjoying the magnificent view. We toured the shop areas for awhile longer and headed out, driving along the coastal area viewing whatever we could. The coastal area here is gorgeous.

Friday, May 28,

We left Monterrey fairly early, hoping to check out the Santa Cruz boardwalk and Big Basins Redwoods State Park. The traffic was getting very difficult as a mist moved in. It took twice as long to get up to Santa Cruz than we expected and the traffic was pretty thick so we gave up on the Boardwalk. We made it to the park but it had started to rain by now. Not a hard rain, just a steady drizzle that soaked right through you. We were beginning to hit our wall by now. We had logged over 40 miles of hiking in the past 2 weeks and were beginning to feel it. We drove around the park and went on two short hikes in order to take in the Coastal Redwood trees. One of the hikes brought us by the "Mother of the Forest" tree. The tree is 329 feet high and towers over everything. It was impressive. We toured the museum, ate some ice cream and headed out to San Jose Airport. We passed through several little towns along the way, some a bit red necky, some really yuppified. They were interesting on either end. We stopped and walked around a few but really didn't see anything interesting. We got to San Jose and quickly found our hotel, the Fairfield Inn Airport. It was a great place. It had nice, clean rooms and a huge open area with a heated pool and hot tub in the middle. The staff were very helpful and suggested that we return the car today and take the shuttle tomorrow. They also gave us excellent restaurant recommendations. We ate, returned the car and spent some time in the pool and hot tub. A good finish to the trip.

Saturday May 29,

Made it home through Dallas, no problems. A great trip. Though I still hate the San Jose airport!